All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque
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Book Reviews of All Quiet on the Western Front
Book Review: Best War Book I've Ever Read
Summary: 5 Stars
In a simple understatement, the message that All Quiet on the Western Front carries is that war is bad. This may sound very trite, and universally known, but one truly cannot realize how bad war is until one can experience it or is told by a gripping novel. Erich Maria Remarque can be easily identified as an amazing writer, and deserves this honor. I have learned many things about war, and the men who fight them, but the one thing that I learned the best is war is bad. People in general have a morbid fascination with death, and because of this, war is an appealing topic. This is way, I believe, that war carries such a mystic and glorious overtone, but this is totally unfounded. I don't believe that there aren't heroes, but I do think that after reading this book I can describe a better picture of war then a classic WWII with John Wayne. War is simply men of different nations coming together to kill each other under false pretences. The poor soldiers who sacrifice their lives are there only because they have to. The true "bad guys" are in fact the leaders of all the countries, not the men of their countries. It is often said that the other man that one was fighting, could have just as easily been a friend; unfortunately, they were enemies due to the brainwashing of boot camp. The conditioning of soldiers can better be described as brainwashing all of the soldiers. They are told things such as the enemy eats babies, and rape cattle, but this is cheep ploy to distract them from the larger picture. This picture is that they have no reason to fight against these foreigners, except for the fact that their commanding officer ordered them. While for others this may be a good reason, I believe that it is inhuman to change a man in this way, because it only scars and damages the better side of that man. The leaders themselves should fight to resolve these conflicts, other than sending away thousands of men they hardly know. The book points this out wonderfully when it describes Paul's relationship with the Russian prisoners. After learning a little about them, Paul realizes that the Russians are very similar him, except that they speak another language. One can realize just how bad things are, when many of the soldiers admit to not knowing why they're fighting, and that they're risking their lives because someone told them to not because they believe in the cause. Men cannot be used a pawns on the battlefield, because this is not Chess it is real life and people die. However, it often turns out that the leaders of the country are cowardly, and feel that they must let others die to prove their supremacy. The one thing that I liked the most about the book was the detail. I have thought about war before, and was fascinated but wasn't sure of what it was about. This is why I watched war movies and read books, but this is definitely the best book on war that I have ever read. While most books or movies show that the characters are fighting because they support their nation's cause, this book points out that they are only fighting to save themselves and to save their friends. Friendship is a very strong bond in war, and it is important to one's survival, All Quiet on the Western Front shows the importance of relationships and how close they became. This detail to every attention makes the story wrap around the reader, as if they were actually there experiencing it for themselves. I am a firm believe that good art should not be tampered with, and it is under this opinion that I feel that nothing in the book should be changed. I feel that it has a perfect amount of factual information and opinions. It would be a travesty to change the book, because anything that is changed would take away from the story, no matter how carefully it is done. The "expert" that I discussed this, Ed Kelly, also feels the same way that I do. Clichés are not always good to quote, and often hurt, but I feel that "If it's not broken, don't fix it" fits perfectly in this situation. If the book can be read and enjoyed by millions, then that should be a good indicator that there's nothing wrong with it. War is a horrible act that turns young men with promising lives into cold-blooded killers. These men aren't evil in their heart, but they are faced with the situation of either fighting to survive or to die, and after being given a gun, I think that most men would choose to fight just by basic instinct. War corrupts the mind and the soul, and it nearly ruins one's life if they actually survive long enough to try to have a civilized life. This book reveals the shocking truth about what happens in the front, and in a small way, it even ruins our innocence when we realize that our countries to this because of political problems. Simply stated, war is wrong and is never justifiable, all it does is wreak havoc on the soldiers and their families that is a crime against humanity.Book Review: All Quiet speaks to generations.
Summary: 5 Stars
Erich Maria Remarque was a World War I veteran who was wounded by shrapnel on the Western front and spent the remainder of the conflict in a hospital. His seminal work, All Quiet on the Western Front, was originally published in Germany in 1929 as Im Westen nichts Neues, which literally translates to "Nothing New in the West" and would have been a macabre irony to the German public. Nazis would later burn his books and defame his name for his depictions of war's cruelty.
All Quiet on the Western Front is, truly, not only one of the greatest war novels of all time, but also one of the most effective anti-war novels of all time. The images speak for themselves. The terrible numbers of senseless deaths that befell those who were unfortunate enough to be of age at such a time should never be forgotten, and their lessons are encased in this novel. The narrator, Paul Bäumer, is nineteen-years-old when the story opens, and it is later revealed that he joined the German army under the dangerous misguidance of an instructor, and the older generation's insistence that it was his duty to give his life for his country. Unfortunately, none of the characters seem sure as to what `noble cause' it is for which they are supposed to sacrifice. Several aspects of the war are shown as experienced by the common soldier, including the periods of idle boredom, of mischief, the isolation felt upon their return to civilian life, and finally, and most vividly tragic, their experience in battle. Scenes of horses tripping and tangled in their own spilled intestines are perhaps the most telling images in the book of man's destructive folly, and its price on the world.
Remarque was not alone in his perceptions and sentiments. Indeed, the novel reads closely like a full-length version of Wilfred Owen's 1917 poem, "Dulce Et Decorum Est", or perhaps it is the poem which seems to fit nicely in the novel, giving a glimpse into a moment of traumatic and bitter horror. Owen was a British soldier who, shortly after writing this poem, was killed in battle a week before the war ended. The title comes from the Roman poet Horace and is the first part of a saying familiar to contemporaries at the outbreak of the war, the full-length of which completes the poem and is translated as: "It is sweet and right to die for your country." It is worth presenting here as it embodies the message of Remarque's condemnation of the war, and it gives in horrific clarity the similar sufferings and feelings of betrayal of those who the character Bäumer is fighting against.
"Dulce Et Decorum Est"
Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,
Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,
Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs
And towards our distant rest began to trudge.
Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots
But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;
Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots
Of disappointed shells that dropped behind.
GAS! Gas! Quick, boys!-- An ecstasy of fumbling,
Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time;
But someone still was yelling out and stumbling
And floundering like a man in fire or lime.--
Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light
As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.
In all my dreams, before my helpless sight,
He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.
If in some smothering dreams you too could pace
Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin;
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,--
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est
Pro patria mori.
Certainly not all causes are unjust, but war in its nature effects the youth and innocents who are the least responsible for the problems for which they pay, and the price is usually more terrible than those of the true instigators. All Quiet on the Western Front tells of a senseless war and those who paid the ultimate price. It is powerful and honest and unforgiving in its ability to paint a picture of sorrow and sympathy, of brotherhood and regret. It is a heart-breaking lesson in history that should never be forgotten. It can only be recommended most highly.
Book Review: Bellum Omni Vorat
Summary: 5 Stars
'War devours everything' is the general theme of Erich Maria Remarque's famous novel. The story is a first-person narrative detailing the life of its author, Paul Baumer, during the period of The Great War from 1916-1918. Baumer just graduated from high school and, like every other good German, he signs up for the war along with his classmates to serve his Fatherland: it is the ideal that has been pounded into them by their government, school teachers, and elders. At first all gleaming with overconfidence, the narrator and his friends soon realize that there's no glory in war even if one has dutifuly served the Fatherland and received an Iron Cross pinned to their chest by the Kaiser himself.
The narrative uses the characters to show how the reality of war, in one way or another, destroys or consumes the vitality of life: it is rich in showing the futility and beastiality of war. Remarque in effect explores the two main schools of thought that occupied intellectual discussion at the turn of the 20th century; positivists such as Bertrand Russel who thought that modern progress was a positive factor to humanity if guided by moral values and, the school of nihilism advanced by Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, and others arguing that morality was simply a conventional rationalization of an objectively purposeless existence. Baumer and his friends are, at first, positivists: despite the war, they're all still obsessed with youthful notions of duty to the state and their dreams of becoming artists/writers, theologists, farmers, and foresters. When they arrive at the front, their sergeant is the sobering pragmatist who teaches the youths to dispense with their naive idealism and to bear only the brutal reality of war in their thoughts. He teaches them the practical skills of good soldiering by keeping dry and finding good food. He teaches them to survive by using their shovels to decapitate the enemy instead of the fixed bayonet. Slowly but surely, each of the narrator's friends become victims of the war despite their idealism: some of them are killed precisely because of their idealism. In short, the narrative subtly explores every possible facet of war in how it permanently destroys, disfigures, or otherwise changes life and the human spirit: it explores the utter futility and dehumanization of war. Although one follows Baumer's optimism throughout the story, one realizes that optimism ultimately changes nothing in terms of the reality of war: only one's perception of it. The story actually leaves the question open as to whether an optimistic outlook serves any purpose at all in either war or peace. Remarque himself claims at the beginning of his work that it is not a critique or evaluation and certainly not an adventure story but simply an account of the lives of a few men fighting in a long and gruesome war.
This is a great work on the horrors of war and particularly modern mechanized warfare. Beyond the fact that it could have been avoided, the most horrid thing about WWI is the toll it took on the generations of men who fought in it. By the war's end, about 75% of the male population ages 17-35 in Germany and France was either dead or permanently disabled by the war in one way or another. Of those who were injured, many were amputees, horribly maimed/disfigured, or suffering permanent neurological damage from exposure to mustard gas. WWI was also the last war in which soldiers had statistically a higher chance of dying from disease and deprivations than from combat; penicillin was yet to be discovered and medical facilities/care remained primitive. Most limb injuries tended to be amputated to avoid scepsis and blood transfusions were not really known. Most wounded soldiers died simply of blood loss/shock; those who survived often died from various viral/bacterial infections. In reciting such grim details, Remarque's narrative is far from being a tragic epic in the style of the Iliad where great champions died gloriously in combat. For Remarque, there's no glory in war; the only glory is to survive it. Remarque's characters are only ordinary men who try to survive a horrid war the best they can. None of the characters seek to be heroes in this story although many perform heroic feats to save their commarades. This is a true classic of Western literature and is worthy of reading.
Book Review: Of Tainted Hope and Glory: part five
Summary: 5 Stars
As Paul lives out his existence in the war that he has helped make for himself, he falls, perhaps willingly, into a pit of hellish insanity that has resulted from a loss of friends, innocence, and optimism. Because he is no longer living in a world that functions based on structure, logic, and intelligence, he becomes a drone; a machine that must relentlessly destroy, without a sense of doubt, regret, or morality. And so begins the final account of Pauls disillusionmentIt is implied that Paul has possibly never explored the whole of his country, and that his life once existed solely around his home, community, and homeland. Since the war is being fought to claim places he has never even seen, Paul begins to observe less relevance in his own participation. Certainly he has no quarrel over land. As Kat, one of Pauls close friends (and also his last) so aptly describes, All of us are simple folkwhy would a French blacksmith or a French shoemaker want to attack us? It is merely the rulers. [The French soldiers] werent asked about it any more than we were (205). In many ways, Paul never questioned or was questioned about his involvement. He simply believed he was defending his homeland. Would he have felt the same way if he had known his country was being operated by ravenous corporate dictators, concerned only with their own prosperity and unmoved by its populations suffering? Pauls misapprehension is that he is defending a noble and dignified homeland against a rival group of thieves whose purpose is to raid his land and steal all that he loves. His reality is that he is the thief; he is the one trying to rob land from those who love their country as much as he loves his. Pauls is everything that he has been trained to hate, and to fear, and to destroy. This is his disillusionment.
Throughout Pauls journey into the unknown, it seems he always describes his present as if he is constantly thinking of his future. But does Paul truly believe he has a tangible opportunity in life after the war? He alleges how his Knowledge of life is limited to death, and then asks, What will happen afterwards? And what shall become of [my generation] (264). Paul comes to accept that his future is just as bleak as the lifeless wasteland he inhabits. At a time when he should be living his own existence, he survives in the shadow of the war. Surrounded by hate, and exiled from bliss or even contentment, the simple joys Paul could once have are but distant memories. He does not understand his life or meaning, so he can only look on to his death, wherein he has no significance. The First World War was never won. Instead, it simply collapsed. Similarly, Paul did not emerge from the war; his life was fought for and lost on the battlefield. And yet at last, after having endured the horrors of his reality for so long, Paul was finally fulfilled--his life, of which he had no will to continue, was lost, and Paul, the soldier of glory, the iron youth of his generation, was at peace. But what keeps Paul alive for so long? What stops him from jumping off the ledge into an ocean of delirium and despair? Other than his strength and courage, Paul lives under the illusion that he will be remembered as a hero even if he does not feel he is one. That his efforts were not in vein, and that he is benefiting humanity be fighting is Pauls incentive, but not his reality, as Paul is perfectly aware. He admits, Men will not understand usthe war will be forgottenthe years will pass by and in the end we shall fall into ruin (294), symbolizing Pauls worthlessness not only to himself, but also to the future of humanity. Perhaps no war is justified, but many are necessary, fought so that hopefully the future maintains peace. Pauls war is fought over trivial ideals, a result of the abuse of supreme control. Acton, an esteemed Victorian lord and historical thinker, once said, absolute power corrupts absolutely, and indeed, in the case of Pauls government, this is especially true. Its greed has destroyed Pauls life, and ended his future. Pauls dream is that someday, he will be worth something to humanity. But he misunderstands, and his efforts will eventually be forgotten. Pauls only value is to himself, and even that importance eventually fades. This is his disillusionment.
Book Review: Does art reflect or shape culture?
Summary: 5 Stars
"Bombardment, barrage, curtain-fire, mines, gas, tanks, machine-guns, hand-grenades - words, words, but they hold the horror of the world." All Quiet on the Western Front, by Erich Maria Remarque, is a novel about WWI. Paul Bäumer is a German peasant on the front lines. He is the narrator and protagonist of this literary work of art. Good art reflects the culture in which it was created. Great art shapes culture. This book does both.
Bäumer's powerful story reflects the culture of the front lines and trenches of WWI. It confronts the reader with vivid images of danger and violence. Paul speaks of "men living with their skulls blown open" and soldiers running "with their two feet cut off." He conveys the desperation and helplessness of life on the front. To the foot soldier, "the front is a cage in which [they] must wait fearfully whatever may happen." The story reaches beyond details to reveal the psychological impact that war has on men. First, their youth is taken. None of the men are "more than twenty years old. But young? Youth? That is long ago." They are forced to become "hard, suspicious, pitiless, vicious, tough." But this is good, "for these attributes were just what [they] lacked. Had [they] gone into the trenches without this period of training most ... would certainly have gone mad."
In the trenches, there is no outside world. It is a culture of isolation. Paul describes himself as "so alone, and so without hope." It is also a culture of silence, where "a man cannot talk of such things" as death. When Paul loses his best friend he admits that it "was very hard. But a man gets used to that sort of thing in the army." By the end of his narrative, Paul has become so accustomed to the death of his comrades that the reader numbly accepts their fate as well. This is an eloquent way to communicate the tragedy of war. Yet, it saddened me to be reduced to that state of callousness - as if I were not paying the men the honor they were due.
On the home front, honor is the only focus of a patriotic society. The men's schoolteacher, Kantorek, gave "long lectures until the whole of [the] class went, under his shepherding" to enlist. And if any men hesitated, "even one's parents were ready with the word `coward.'" When the men were on leave, all anyone wanted to talk about was the front. Paul's father wants him to tell "about the front," Paul's German-master's first question is "Well, how are things out there?" and even a head-master asks, "So you come from the front? What is the spirit like out there?." There is also the assumption that "Naturally it's worse here [Germany]" because it's "the best for our soldiers, every time." After all, while the teachers teach that "duty to one's country is the greatest thing," the men learn "that death-throes are stronger."
One hopes that All Quiet on the Western Front is sufficiently dramatic and unflinching to alter our culture's understanding of the cost of honor, and war. The cover of the Random House edition refers to it as "The greatest war novel of all time" - and it may well be. It teaches the futility of war, and the irony that "the culture of a thousand years could not prevent this stream of blood being poured out." Paul is resigned to being twenty years old, yet knowing "nothing of life but despair, death, fear, and fatuous superficiality cast over an abyss of sorrow." He talks of seeing peoples "set against one another, and in silence, unknowingly, foolishly, obediently, innocently slay one another." After reading this book one cannot merely think of war as glory and victory and heroics. One must face the horrors visited on the individuals who participate, willingly or not.
All Quiet on the Western Front reflects one culture and has shaped another. However, in spite of its impact, not enough has changed. We still fight today with the same human cost. When the book was first published, a review in the French journal Le Monde said, "It should be distributed by the millions and read in every school." WWI was to be the war to end all wars. How many wars have occurred since then? Obviously, this book needs more readers. As Tjaden so aptly puts it, "what exactly is war for?."